Eric Forrest-Greene

Eric Forrest-Greene

9/10/1903 - 25/1/1954

Eric Forrest Greene was an Argentinean driver of British origins born in Rosario in 1903. He spent his youth in England where he participated in a few races at the wheel of a Bentley. Forrest Greene continued his racing career when he returned permanently to Argentina to run his business as the Bentley and Rolls Royce agent.

Eric Forrest Greene was an Argentinean driver of British origins born in Rosario in 1903. He spent his youth in England where he participated in a few races at the wheel of a Bentley. Forrest Greene continued his racing career when he returned permanently to Argentina to run his business as the Bentley and Rolls Royce agent.

In 1928 he won his first race in the Premio de Otoño driving a Bugatti and five weeks later, on 27 May, he won the important 500 Miles of Rafaela ahead of the Hudson of Domingo Bucci and the Mercedes-Benz of Carlos Zatuszek.

Forrest Greene continued to race, before and after World War II, at the wheel of different cars, including Maserati, Bentley and Aston Martin. Although he did not obtain other important results he remained an important motorsport personality in Argentina, being the centre of the British automobile industry and importer of Jowett cars, Aston Martin and BRM.

He was the mediator that set up Juan Manuel Fangio's test in the BRM single seater in 1952 although he was at the time a works Maserati driver. Forrest Greene and his wife Dora, also used to entertain the British drivers that went to race in Argentina.

Eric Forrest Greene lost his life at the 1954 1000 Kilómetros de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, held on 24 January on a 9.5 km circuit which included a section of the Autodromo 17 de Octubre and a segment of the city street Avenida General Paz, between the bridge Puente de la Noria and the turning to the Ministro Pistarini airport. Forrest Greene lost control of his Aston Martin DB3/1, which he shared with Carlos Stabile, on the fourteenth lap (according to other sources it was the twenty-third lap). The accident happened in the Avenida General Paz, immediately after the junction with the Autodromo, the car rolled several times landing upside-down in flames. Forrest Greene managed to extricate himself from the wreck and ran towards the crowd with his clothes on fire. There was a large crowd, included several policemen, but most of them ran away, with only two policemen bravely helping by extinguishing the flames by covering the driver with their uniform coats and. The entire sequence was caught by a photographer whose pictures sadly show the number of people running away while Forrest-Greene is walking towards them in search of help. Eric Forrest-Greene died the following day of his burns in the Hospital Salaberry.

Many years later, the Aston Martin DB3/1 was rebuilt by the son of Eric, John "Jackie" Forrest Greene, the champion of Argentinean Sport Fuerza Libre championship in 1961 and vice-champion in 1964 and later the sporting director of the Sevel squad in the local Turismo Competición 2000 series in the ealry 1990s.

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Born on the same day.

The following drivers were born on the same day as Eric Forrest-Greene (16th - October)